When writing WeChat advertorials we are often caught between two parties, the WeChat channel vendor (aka the operator of popular WeChat channels who sell spots in their daily WeChat newsletter much like a print newspaper) and the Client.

With the privacy policies being quite stringent in China, the WeChat advertising platform has been in beta for the last few years. In order to become a platform for people to place ads, your official WeChat account would need a sizeable following (larger than 100K followers); and in order to advertise on the platform you would also need to have a China bank account, China mobile number and China personal ID.

We covered yesterday the 5 best practices for salespeople using WeChat. Today we will cover the 5 best practices for managers using WeChat. You may think it's the same as what the frontline salespeople do, but WeChat functions also allow a manager to more effectively communicate with their team to implement Chinese marketing strategy.

Create WeChat friendly marketing materials. WeChat users are used to staying in-app for everything they need. Don't make them leave the app. Create visuals for new products, services, or events that can be shared in-app and work within the WeChat platform.*

Instant team updates. Create a work chat group to keep your team in the loop. Integrate WeChat group updates into your sales strategy - whether that's a WeChat message or PDF sent to the sales team WeChat group outlining goals for the week and recapping last week's performance, you can use WeChat to move forward as a team.

Download it and USE it. Most of the time our clients in the managerial or senior positions are not actively engaged on WeChat. Leadership comes from the top, and if you want your salespeople to believe WeChat can be a great sales tool for them, it's important that you are actively engaged on it.

Do you work in a multi-national company or have a China team you connect with regularly? Instead of using Google Hangouts you can do a WeChat video chat with them to make their lives easier (again, notice all these functions WeChat has consolidated into just one app!)

Stay up to date with your competitors. Follow branded competitor accounts to see what content they are delivering to their Chinese audience. Is it tailored for the community? You better pull your socks up!

BONUS: Run WeChat campaigns. If you want to establish a presence on WeChat but are not able to open your own WeChat account, you can still run a WeChat advertorial + banner ad campaign for your company. See our post on How To Open A WeChat Account For Business.